VI World Blitz Moscow 2010 (Day 3)
Aronian wins the World Blitz
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 20th November 2010
Levon Aronian's hot streak makes him look like the next World Number One. Malcolm Pein looks at his win in the World Blitz.
Levon Aronian continued his brilliant form into day three of the World Blitz Championship and captured the prestigious title ahead of a star-studded field at Moscow. Holding a one point lead over Magnus Carlsen going into the 29thround, Aronian reeled off five more wins and a draw and even a 1/4 was just enough to hold off a late challenge from Teimour Radjabov. Carlsen was frustrated by two draws in his last two games and ended in third place.
Final scores: 1 Aronian 24.5/38; 2 Radjabov 24; 3 Carlsen 23.5; 4-5 Gelfand, Nakamura 21.5; 6-7 Kramnik, Karjakin 20.5; 8-9 Mamedyarov, Svidler 19.5 20 players
The time limit was three minutes starting time and an increment of two seconds per move.
This game contains a puzzle. White's rook sacrifice appears to be winning but there is a clever defence which Black missed. 9.h4 may seem a little bold but when White has such a strong centre it is justifiable.
S Mamedyarov - R Mamedov
Pirc Defence
1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.f4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 c6?! 7.e5 Nd5 8.Nxd5 cxd5 9.h4 Bg4 10.c3 Nc6 11.Be3 Qb6 12.Qd2 h5 13.Nh2 dxe5 14.fxe5 Be6 15.g4 hxg4 16.h5 f5 17.hxg6 f4 18.Nxg4 fxe3 19.Rh8+ Bxh8 20.Qh2
Rauf Mamedov
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Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Position after 20.Qh2
How can Black survive ? answer below
The game ended
20...Rf7? 21.gxf7+ Kxf7 22.Qh5+ Kg8 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Qxh8+ Bg8 1-0
Answer to puzzle: (Black survives with the counter sacrifice 20...Rf1+! 21.Kxf1 Bg7 and his king runs or 20...Rf1+ 21.Ke2 Qxb2+ 22.Kxe3 Qxh2 and wins)
A terrible blunder turns a win into a loss.
F Caruana - D Andreikin
Sicilian Defence
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Bb7 7.0-0 Qb6 8.Nf3 Qc7 9.Re1 Bc5 10.e5 f5 11.Be3 Bxe3 12.Rxe3 b4 13.Nb1 Ne7 14.Nbd2 Nd5 15.Re1 0-0 16.Nc4 Nc6 17.Bf1 a5 18.Nd4 Ba6 19.Nxc6 Bxc4 20.Bxc4 dxc6 21.Qd4 Qe7 22.a3 Rfd8 23.axb4 Qxb4 24.Red1 Kf7 25.b3 a4 26.h3 a3 27.Rd3
Dmitry Andreikin
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Fabiano Caruana
Position after 27.Rd3
Black's passed pawn gives him the advantage and now 27...a2 was simple and good but the game ended
27...Nb6?? 28.Bxe6+
winning the queen and
1-0
Nakamura at his brilliant best.
H Nakamura - S Mamedyarov
Trompovsky
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.e3 Ne4 4.Bf4 c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Bxe4 dxe4 7.d5 Nb4 8.Nc3 Bf5 9.a3 Na6 10.Nge2 g6 11.Be5 f6 12.Bg3 Qb6 13.0-0 Rd8 14.h3 e6 15.Bh2 Bg7?
(15...exd5 16.Nxd5 Qe6 17.c4!)
16.g4! Bxg4 17.hxg4 exd5 18.Nxd5 Qe6 19.Nef4 Qf7 20.c4 f5 21.f3 0-0 22.gxf5 gxf5 23.fxe4 Bxb2 24.Rb1 Be5 25.exf5 Kh8 26.Ng6+ 1-0
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
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Hikaru Nakamura
Position after 26.Ng6+
